Max Fisher and Amanda Taub contend that domestic political pressure is an important reason why Obama and now Trump have chosen to continue the war in Afghanistan:
As we wrote in an article last week, any American president knows that he or she will pay a high political cost for either striking a deal with the Taliban or withdrawing [bold mine-DL], which would likely prompt the country’s collapse. Because voters tend to blame presidents for change but not for the status quo, then keeping troops in Afghanistan forever is better politics even if it is not a winning strategy.
That’s an interesting claim, but I wonder if it’s really true. The war in Afghanistan is not popular, and the last time anyone bothered asking (in 2015) most Americans said they thought the war was a mistake. According to a Politico-sponsored poll, very few (20%) support a troop increase, and almost twice as many (37%) want to reduce the number of troops now there. As far as public opinion is concerned, there doesn’t appear to be much public pressure to continue the war in Afghanistan. The general public indifference to the war allows it to continue indefinitely, but that same indifference means that a president could choose to end the war anytime without risking a popular backlash.
The authors go on to say this:
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